Reloading...

You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set.  You send the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about. Then the young lions roar for their prey, stalking the food provided by God.  At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest.  Then people go off to their work, where they labor until evening.  O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.  Psalm 104:19-24  

John S. hanging out with the guys on our front porch in Pal.

Thanks a ton for praying for us this last week. We have been retooling, reloading, and replanning our move-in to Pal. There are still a number of details that need to get hammered out, but it looks like the first week of March or so will be the next time that the helicopter is available, so that is the time frame that we are looking at. If you’d like to see what all the fuss was about, check out this video of the wind and visibility conditions around our houses: Windy Musupum (video)

We have been trying to figure out where some of the important things were packed (homeschooling without the correct books takes some serious creativity…Go Elizabeth!) and working to streamline things for shuttles for next time. Everyone seems to have taken things in stride and we are actually glad to focus on some of the important details that we did not have time to deal with before the January attempt.

Things you can be praying for this next week:

-          Relationships with the School Board at the shuttle point. We were unable to meet with them last time up the road and we heard that there are a couple of guys who are upset with us. We are waiting to hear from our friends who are arranging a meeting with them.

-          Wisdom for what to communicate this week. Some of the Pal people have planned to come down and meet with us to get the full scoop sometime this week. We are hoping that they will understand the delay and that we communicate clearly our desire to be there with them.

-          Rest for our partners the Lockwoods. They have been dealing with malaria and colds along with the stresses of moving.

-          Resourcefulness for us – we have a little extra time to get things ready… what would the Lord direct us to prepare for the move?

What a great time to be praying together in anticipation.

Nate for the Claasens.

The Claasen’s House as it stands in Pal. All of the sticks leaning up on the front are a scaffolding where the guys stood to attach our split bamboo siding.

As a postscript this week, we’ll give you a little word of advice… (not that this is necessary information for most of you…)

The picture below shows a couple of mountain ridges that we hiked around on last year during our survey of the Pal language group.  The furthest one back (not obscured) represents the last ridge within Pal lands. If you ever have the chance to walk this ridge, coat your shoes and socks liberally with deet or some other chemical substance.

It so happens that we encountered the single highest concentration of leeches in all of Pal in that mile-long stretch of trail. I believe Mason picked 12 or 13 out of his shoes and I had nearly as many in mine. Again, not a particularly useful bit of information for most of you, but still worth knowing if you plan on coming for a visit sometime.

Posted via email from PNG Time